2018 was a year of transition for the Altona and District Chamber of Commerce.

That was the message at the organization's annual general meeting Monday night.

The Chamber lost manager Stephanie Harris in September who left in September to become the Economic Development Officer for the newly formed SEED group, a joint venture between local business leaders and the municipalities of Altona and Rhineland.

About a month later, Tim Spiller was hired to fill the managerial vacancy.

Despite those significant changes in personnel, Chamber president Jared Barnabe says the organization was able to carry on fairly smoothly.

"Our board is very well structured and a lot of people know what to do when forced to step up. Tim has come on and taken on a lot of things for us which has been nice. He has a lot of experience in consulting, so he knows how to come into an area and knows what to do right away and was able to pick things up quickly. It's gone very smooth that way."

Over the past year, the organization has been heavily involved in helping to establish the SEED group and define its role in the community. There were some concerns that the mandate of the new organization would overlap with other local entities like the Chamber, Altona Community Development Corporation and even the municipalities of Altona and Rhineland.

"A lot of these were already in place and we just needed to define their roles. So, when someone with a business interest comes to any of these organizations ... we take their information and communicate with each other and work together for one common goal," said Barnabe.

Meanwhile, at the chamber's annual general meeting Monday night, Barnabe was re-elected as president, Travis Derksen was re-elected as vice president, Adam Mace will serve another term as treasurer, and Craig Neufeld was re-elected as secretary.